A Twist in Destiny
by B Michi
Summary: He was said to be a shadow, a cold hearted monster, the destroyer of life. He was said to be able to see all your fears, all your secrets. To be able to kill a man with just a look, some said he could do it with less than that. He was Cenred's sorcerer, and it was Gwen's job to dispose of him. Canon era AU (I promise the story's better than the summary!)
1. Chapter 1

**Hello there! So here is my first story. I'm going to say it now, any updates I do make on this are probably going to be slow, unless I get a hit of amazing inspiration and a magically lessened work load.**

**But anyway, this is a plot bunny that popped into my mind. . I may or may not continue it so we'll see. I think it works well as a one-shot as well, so please let me know what you think at the end.**

**Edit 2/18/14 ** **Pretty much this is an AU in which Merlin never showed up in Camelot but was enslaved to Cenred instead. Cenred in turn has been using Merlin's gifts to his own ends and trying to take over lands in the neighboring kingdoms (i.e. Camelot), while terrorizing his own lands to keep control.**** (Thank you to adsiderum for pointing out that I should mention that!) Hope this clears up some confusion!**

******So enough of me babbling away here. Enjoy!**

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Gwen knocked on the door and waited anxiously. After a month of hiding who she really was, she had finally managed to reach her target. Cenred's sorcerer. The black magician. The destroyer. The man of a thousand names; _Emrys._ Soon she would be able to carry out her purpose of being in this castle, and then she could return to her king, her love. But first she had to get close enough to Emrys.

A quiet voice beckoned her into the room, and with a quick heartbeat she opened the door. She knew not what she would find inside the room. Instruments of torture perhaps. Potions and poisons? What would Emrys look like. She imagined a shadow. A shadow that sucked all other life from the room. That's what the stories say, and Gwen couldn't truly say anything against it, she had only seen the sorcerer in passing. A quick glimpse of the black figure strolling briskly behind the king; an ominous black cloak flying out behind him as he turned the corner.

But as she stepped into the room, the door closing behind her, Gwen found that it was much worse. The man in question stood solemnly by the only window and source of light. He was wrapped in his black cloak as always, but the moon and stars shone on his tilted face, revealing the pale skin beneath; a flash of silver around his neck. The room was barren but for a bed, giving the appearance of a cold and empty space. Gwen found, it was not the shadow by the window that sucked the life from the room, but the room that sucked the life from the shadow. She felt the urge to fight back her tears. It was painfully obvious that the man was a prisoner, and Gwen felt ashamed that she had never thought it before; that she had listened to the whispers of the ladies' gossip, and men's grand tales. She had known that they seldom spoke the truth.

The room spoke the truth. The sorcerer was a prisoner in a sugar coated prison cell, not that the room was much more than a prison cell in the first place. And that was worse, Gwen thought, that the man responsible for so much death, so much destruction, was not a cold hearted monster, but just a man. A poor man, enslaved to a king.

Gwen waited for a moment before setting about her job. She cleared the sheets from the bed guided only by the moonlight beyond the window, and having nothing else to do she simply waited for Emrys' orders.

But none were forthcoming.

"Is there anything else you need sir?" Gwen asked. The silence was suffocating, and she wanted to get out before it took her.

And then Emrys spoke, his head turning just a bit, allowing Gwen to see more clearly the shine of the silver collar circling his neck, but his face was still draped in shadow. "You are a new servant." The question was more of a statement but Gwen nodded anyway, feeling the words caught in her throat at his voice. It wasn't powerful- commanding- it was a sad voice, rough from neglect. He spoke again, "What is your name?" Gwen felt the need to lie, to run, to get away as fast as possible. She shouldn't give him her name. Names were powerful; in the wrong hands, a name could be used to control you. But Gwen did none of those things. Perhaps it was the pity she found herself having for the sorcerer, or maybe it was something else entirely, but Gwen answered him.

"Guinevere, sir."

Gwen watched as Emrys rolled the name around on his tongue, seemingly trying to fit it with something else. He was silent for a while, turned again to look out the window, his face tilted towards the sky. When he spoke, he spoke suddenly, quietly, and Gwen thought she heard a thread of hope weaved into his sad voice, "The stars speak of the fair lady Guinevere." And Gwen's heart stuck in her throat. She prepared to run out of the room should the need arise, not that she expected it would do much help for her against the powerful sorcerer. "They speak of her alongside her golden king bringing peace to the land with her kind heart, and the trees whisper of her coming."

He stood silent again. Gazing intently at the sky, and Gwen almost forgot for a moment who she was in the room with. But then Emrys spoke again. "I only pray that you live up to the name." Gwen stared at him, as he then turned his head, slowly, toward her again. She fought the urge to squirm, as she felt his eyes fall upon her. And then he turned back to the window with a gruff "You may go."

When she reached the servants quarters, she wept; wept for the man who was taken from his home and forced to do an evil man's biddings.

~\./~

It was a week later that Gwen was told to bring up food to Emrys: the usual carrier had fallen ill, and she was the only other servant allowed entry. It was the chance that she had been waiting for.

Gwen took the least traveled route to Emrys' room, pausing in an alcove to pull the vial from around her neck and pour a drop into the wine she carried. She quickly placed it back around her neck, and checking both ways, continued down the corridor to Emrys' room.

When she entered Emrys was sat on the bed, staring at the wall opposite him. His hood was down, and for the first time Gwen saw the face of Emrys. The face of a pale young man, with sad blue eyes, and a mop of raven hair. He didn't even glance at Gwen as she brought him the food and wine.

"I've brought your dinner, sir." And now Emrys slowly shifted his eyes to her, and then down to the tray she carried. He reached out for it slowly, and Gwen let him take it. She waited as he slowly ate his food, and waited for him to drink the wine patiently. The silence did not bother her as much anymore, after all, Emrys had not spoken to her since that first day, and the silence had become an everyday thing that she had just grown used to. She had to.

So when he did speak, it startled Gwen enough to make her jump. "You are very loyal to your king Guinevere… and very brave." Gwen starred at him, he still had not touched the wine. Her heart rate picked up. "You traveled into this kingdom, knowing that you would be facing me sooner or later. Knowing that what you were going to do could get you killed. But you did it anyway, for Camelot, for your king." Gwen swallowed hard. _He knew_. He knew and now she would die. "This wine is laced with a strong poison. One that can only be cured with the strongest of remedies. A remedy which can only be found in Camelot… I will not live if I drink it."

Gwen tried to move, to run, but for the life of her she couldn't. It was as if she had been frozen where she stood, and all she could do was watch the man before her, as he stared at the cup of wine in his hand. And then he looked up at her with sad eyes, and he gave her an almost sadder, but reassuring smile, as he whispered two words. "Thank you." And with that he raised the cup to his lips, and drank the whole thing; quickly lying down on the bed, as the poison did its work.

Gwen hurried over to him, taking the tray, and wine cup away, and draping the blanket over Emrys. As she turned to leave Emrys called out once more to her. She looked back at him as he struggled to force out the words "Tell… that king of yours…to kill the bastard for me… will you? I can… die happy."

Gwen covered her mouth with her hand, muffling the choked cry which came from her throat. Tears welled up in her eyes as the man in front of her succumbed to darkness. The poison would make him unresponsive, his heart beat imperceptible, and most importantly, his magic unreachable. Tomorrow, King Cenred would arrive to retrieve his sorcerer and would find him seemingly dead. He wouldn't be. Not by then. The poison would not kill the sorcerer for another week, but it was the only one that Emrys would be unable to cure himself of. She took the tray and cup, and ran from the room, discarding them in an unused room, and ran out of the castle. The deed was done. Now she need only to leave the city before curfew. And Cenred's reign of terror would end.

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**So, please don't kill me for what you just read. I promise I don't normally want to kill off Merlin- I'm not like Steven Moffat who kills off all the lovable characters ;) - But let me know if I should continue this or not. I actually do have a beginning of a plot for this, its just a matter of I still have a LOT of work to do for it. Not to mention updates will be very sporadic and could have months between them (that's the result of being over busy, and besides that I'm more of a reader than a write- sorry). So do you think it's worth it to continue? Do you like it as it is? Any suggestions? Let me know! I'd love to hear (or read in this case) your thoughts! XD**


	2. Chapter 2

**Well hello again everyone. I'm going to start by saying thank you to all you lovelies who reviewed, favorited and/or followed this little story. As you can see I've decided to continue this, though I have to say I'm still not too sure with where it's going (It's really taken on a mind of its own!) But I guess we'll all see what happens. **

**As a quick reminder this is an AU and there are plenty of things different. Though much of it may not be explained thoroughly now, it will be later... in fact very very soon. At least most of the background on "what happened in Camelot without Merlin there?" Don't worry most (if not all) answer will be revealed in time. ;) **

**These next few chapters will probably be a bit confusing, which it's meant to be, so if you have any questions feel free to Review or PM me and I'll answer to the best of my abilities. **

**The last thing I'm going to say is if you don't think you end up not likin****g this chapter or how this seems to be going, then just ignore it and pay not attention to the chapters "behind the curtain" and only keep to the first. **

_**Oh one more thing: In this story Uther is dead, and Arthur king. Arthur has also already accepted magic fully (which will also be explained soon), but it is important that you understand that. **_

**Pre-warning this is a bit choppy in the beginning.**

**Anyway, enough of my prattle! On with the story! XD**

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Emrys drifted in darkness. He could feel no pain, but knew his body was slowly dying. Was this death? He didn't think it was, the poison would still be coursing through him, slowing down his heart, and increasingly blocking his lungs, but he wasn't dead yet. Or had it already been a week since he had drunk the poison. He couldn't tell. The darkness was timeless. He could hear a voice in the distance, calling for him, yelling at him. Instinctively he knew his magic was trying to react to its master's demands. To expel the poison and wake his body up, but he knew it was of no use. The poison fought his magic adamantly, or at least that's what he expected; he couldn't exactly feel his magic right now. In fact he couldn't feel anything. But he could hear his master demanding his action.

It was a stream of words, but he couldn't decipher them. They were meaningless to him. All he knew was the intent of the words streaming from his master's mouth. Why should he listen though? What was the point? Even if he could heal himself his master would only make him kill others in return. Make him burn down more people. Make him listen to their screams as he reigned down fire, and then the Earth would cry out as it was scorched; black scars running fresh upon her surface. The loss of life that was ripped from her like children taken from their mother.

Mother. That's why he did his master's bidding. His mother that he had not seen since he was ten; the day that the stars shifted, and Magic cried. The day Destiny had changed its course. Nothing would be the same. He could remember his mother's voice here. Soothing him to sleep. Telling him that the dark of night could not hurt him. But she was wrong. The darkness was what had changed him. The darkness was what his master was made of. The darkness controlled him. The darkness was what tore at his heart mercilessly and crushed it in its grasp. The darkness was the destroyer, but at that moment he believed his mother. He allowed himself to fall into his memories. To remember his innocence that was taken so brutally from him.

_"Merlin" _ It was his mother's voice, but who was Merlin? Emrys saw a young boy, maybe entering his fourth summer, with black hair and crystal blue eyes so full of wonder and curiosity. Why was this boy with _his_ mother. _"Merlin you must be careful. You cannot use your powers as a toy. You have to hide them." _The words seemed familiar to Emrys. But why? _"Do you understand Merlin? You mustn't tell anyone."_

The boy spoke now,_ "Yes mama. No magic. No tell anyone. Keep secret." _Oh, that was right. The boy was him. Merlin was him. But he was Emrys, so how did that work? How was he both? The scene in front of him abruptly changed. Now the boy stood in the door to his room, older now, watching in horror as his mother was taken by the black knights. He watched as the boy screamed and his eyes flashed gold, a pot flying from a table and hitting one of the knights as another was thrown into the fireplace.

The boy ran to his mother, and tried to help her, but before he could, a knight grabbed him and pressed a rag into his face as he squirmed. Slowly his vision blackened, and the last thing he heard was his mother crying out _"Please! He's just a boy! Please! My son!" _and then he once again was floating in the timeless, endless darkness.

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Gwen walked silently beside her brother. She had managed to leave the city with no trouble, and had quickly found him. He had immediately noticed the tears on her face and had comforted her as best he could. Killing Emrys had not been as easy as she had thought, not in the sense of reaching him and physically achieving it, but the mental wounds tore at her heart. Had it been right to kill him? He was just a man after all. It wasn't like Emrys had wanted to kill all those people, she could see that in his eyes, hear it in his voice. The guilt that Emrys held was strong, and Gwen wondered how he hadn't died from that before the poison.

_"It was to save the lives of thousands Gwen." _ Elyan had said when she expressed her doubts, _"To save Camelot and Escetia." _

Gwen had simply responded _"That doesn't make it right."_ Because she would never be able to wipe clean the memory of Emrys' sad eyes. The acceptance that _yes, of course I must drink the poison_ that she could see in his face. The way he moved as if he was just _so tired_, and the way he had willingly drunk the poison, knowing what it would do. And she had even seen the quick flash of fear in his eyes, not for himself, but for another. And that image burned in her mind. She had killed this man who, despite what he had done in the past, had such a heart. That he cared enough for the lives of others that he would kill himself. And that tormented her. She had not killed a monster as she had expected. She had only succeeded in killing a beaten and broken man.

"Gwen?" Gwen looked at her brother, taken out of her thoughts. She smiled a little, she was happy to see her brother. Happy that they had been brought together again. Had Arthur not been the man he was, then she would never have been able to see him, to mend their relationship again. But he had reunited them, and she would never be more thankful for that.

"I'm okay, Elyan. Just thinking."

She knew that wasn't explanation enough. Knew that he would ask more questions. She watched his jaw stiffen, and his body tense. He was worried for her, and she couldn't blame him, in fact she expected it, he was her brother after all.

"Are you still thinking about Emrys? Because if you are you ought to stop. It won't change anything to dwell on it now. It's done and that's it." Gwen frowned at her brother's words. She knew he was trying, but there were some things that he just didn't understand.

They didnt speak again until they arrived at the camp; the camp that was filled with thousands of soldiers and knights and sorcerers. Druids strolled around, healing injuries of those returning from raids on Cenred's strongholds. Gaius was there too, slower than he used to be, but just as strong willed as ever.

She sought out Arthur, quickly finding him as he finished talking with a knight. Their eyes met before they ran to each other. Arthur catching her as she fell weeping into his arms. He guided her to his tent as she sobbed out her story, knowing her beloved king would understand. Knowing that he would say the right words. "It was terrible Arthur. He was just a man, he wasn't evil or cruel. He was just sad and broken; forced to fight for Cenred. He was a slave. And I killed him Arthur. He couldn't have been any older than eighteen."

"It will be alright Guinevere. He will be at peace now, knowing he can't hurt anyone else." Gwen let herself be soothed by her husband's voice. They stayed like that for a few minutes, Arthur's arms wrapped around her as she buried her face in his chest. Taking in his familiar scent and relaxing.

"He only spoke to me twice. And both times he was so sad. I think he knew what I was there for long before he had ever laid eyes on me. He must have. He knew who I was, and on the first day, the way he looked at me…" Gwen stayed silent for a moment as Arthur brushed away her tears, and comforted her, "He drank the poison willingly you know." She felt Arthur's hand pause in its soothing motions. "He ate so slowly, and with such… I don't know how to explain it. But he just stopped at the wine. And that was when he spoke to me for the second time. He knew it was poisoned. He thanked me for it. _Thanked me Arthur_. And then he just drank it, and laid down. He knew exactly what it was. He knew he would die, and he drank it anyway."

They stayed in silence for a moment. Gwen waited a few breaths; letting her words sink in. She could tell that Arthur was surprised. And then she continued, "He gave me a message for you." She felt Arthur shift, "He said to kill him. To kill Cenred. That then he could die happy. I…" Gwen broke off. She couldn't continue anymore; it was too painful. So instead she let herself relax in Arthur's arms, and let sleep take her.

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**Well then, what do you think? I promise that Gwen won't be as OOC in the next chapters, but I kind of felt that with a loving heart like she has, she might need that comforting. **

**I basically have the next few chapters set, and almost ready to post though, so hopefully this will work out well. I'm planning to try and post a chapter once every week, but I don't know if I can keep to that so, we'll see what happens. And I probably won't be able to post much during this coming uup week as I'll be away, but I'll see what I can do. **

**Please review and let me know how you liked this chapter! Any advice/suggestions, or questions are also welcome. XD **


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